The present invention relates to a cable modem, as well as a stand for mounting the cable modem thereon, which is to be used as an interface for connecting a CATV (Cable Television) line and a personal computer to each other.
The cable modem has been playing an important role in recent years as an interface for high-speed data communications between CATV line and home or business equipment. This cable modem is equipped with an interface function of converting encoded transmission information into reception signals for personal computers. FIG. 10 shows a schematic view of a prior art example of the cable modem system. In this system, Internet 101, personal computer communication 102 or various types of information 103 is transmitted via servers 201, 202 or via a server 203 other than the CATV station (e.g., a server provided within a company), and in relay of a router 204 and further through an information encoding process by a cable modem encoder 205, to each home or company or the like 300. This encoded information, which could not be received as it is by personal computers, is subjected to signal transformation by a cable modem 301 so as to be receivable by a personal computer 302.
In the cable modem of the prior art example shown in FIG. 10, commonly, logic IC or other logic circuit components are mounted on one board, while a front end section and circuit components for the driving of LED lamp display are mounted on the other board, which means that the cable modem would be comprised of totally two circuit boards. For the mounting of the LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp, it would be necessary to insert the LED lamp by hand, and after hand soldering, to cut off excess lead wires and further position the LED lamp so that a front end section of the LED lamp is set to a center position of a front panel opening. Besides, since much heat is generated by these logic circuit and front end sections with the cable modem in operation, it has been the case that the cable modem is fabricated through steps of inserting a metal plate for heat radiation between the two boards, mounting the circuit board structure with the metal plate inserted, in which the two boards and the metal plate have been connected to each other by screws, to a metallic chassis having a generally U-shaped cross section, and further housing the chassis in a box type cabinet.
Such a cable modem, as shown above, would take much time in assembly and inevitably involve increased outside dimensions of the cabinet, occupying a considerable space when installed on a desk, and besides the cable modem would be heavy in unit weight so as to be inconvenient to carry. Further, when the cable modem, which is normally positioned horizontally, is positioned vertically for saving space, it would be unstable, being prone to tilt. Furthermore, as another problem, when the cable modem is of smaller size and thin type design, use environmental temperatures of the circuit components would be exceeded due to temperature increase in the interior of the cabinet, causing malfunction